Forestry & Forest Products

Forestry & Forest Products: Background

The forestry industry, which includes timber companies, sawmills and pulp and paper mills -- but not retail lumberyards -- has for years strongly supported Republicans.

People and political action committees associated with the forestry industry donated $3.9 million to federal candidates and political committees during the 2008 election cycle, with 65 percent going to Republicans. Weyerhaeuser Co., International Paper and the American Forest and Paper Association were top industry contributors during the 2008 election cycle. During the 2010 election cycle, the industry began donating more to Democrats.

The forestry industry, like many other industries, has faced a tougher regulatory environment under the Obama administration and its appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency. The industry has been critical of the efforts EPA to tighten emission controls for industrial boilers, saying the regulations could go too far and cause job losses. The Obama administration has introduced moratoriums on logging in remote sections of national forests, reversing efforts by the Bush administration to open up those areas by turning over regulation to the states.

The American Forest and Paper Association and others have advocated climate legislation that recognizes biomass fuels as carbon neutral. The association has also advocated reducing the corporate tax and the alternative minimum tax and making bonds to finance recycling tax exempt.

The industry spent nearly $15 million on lobbying expenditures in 2008 and more than $13.6 million in 2009. The American Forest and Paper Association and Weyerhaeuser Co. spent the most money in 2008 and 2009 respectively, lobbying on such issues as corporate taxes, tax credits for alternative fuels and illegal logging. International Paper also routinely spends more than $2 million annually on federal-level lobbying efforts.

-- Andrew Kreighbaum

Updated December 2010

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